Good Morning, Good Night
by Joy Booth
Summary: A quick little fic about the benefits being up all night.


**A/N: Hello, friendly readers I hope you enjoy my little foray into this fandom, I just wanted to mention that I live for reviews, anything constructive is appreciated. That the wonderful phoenixqueen beta-ed this fic. Also if you are into music with your reading, I was listening to 'why cant I say goodnight' from Nashville when I wrote this. Happy reading, oh and of course this is just for fun and I don't owe any of these characters places or things.**

Skye had always been a night owl. She liked working at night, when everyone else was fast asleep. She worked best alone and without the distractions that other people always brought with them. It was one of the things that she loved about her van. She could work when she wanted to, sleep when she felt like it and she answered to no one, except, perhaps, the parking authority, and their computers were pretty easy to hack.

When she had first come to the bus it had been an adjustment to have people constantly milling about. So it was that she was once again up at 4 am doing nothing in particular, just combing through random sites that caught her interest, when she was reminded of several perks of her new living arrangements. After a quick trip to the bathroom, she headed toward the kitchen for a quick snack.

She was flipping a grilled cheese when Ward came into the kitchen. If it weren't for the fact that his eyes were cracked open she would have assumed that he was sleepwalking.

"You're up early..." she observed.

He made no response but continued to push buttons on the coffeemaker.

"Need some help over there?" she tried again.

Still he only returned a slight grumble.

"Is this one of those I am a man and I don't need your help things, or is this one of those I need coffee to be coherent things?"

He gave another grunt, which she took to mean the second. She put her sandwich on a plate and turned off the stove before moving to the coffeemaker and quickly commencing the brewing process. Ward gave up and went to lay his head on the table. Moments later a steaming cup came into his line of sight and he gathered the energy to consume it.

Skye took the seat next to him, one of her legs tucked under her and the other swinging slightly to an unheard melody. She was completely consumed by her phone a few moments later, when Ward spoke for the first time, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin.

"What are you doing up?"

"Jesus Christ!" she hissed. It was an innocuous enough question, but in truth Skye had completely forgotten he was there. "Uh... yeah I haven't been to bed yet,"  
"Skye, it's nearly five in the morning what if we have a mission today?"

"What if we went all day without a mission and then the battle for Los Angles started at midnight?" she argued.

Ward didn't reply and they lapsed again into silence.

"You never said what you were doing up," Skye asked as she got up to load her plate in the dishwasher.

Ward paused for a long moment.

"Couldn't sleep, I guess..." he thought he would be saved from further questioning as she headed off to bed, but he couldn't find it in himself to be disappointed when she returned to her seat.

"So, S.O. what's on your mind?" she asked, giving him a sideways glance.

"Oh you know, the usual: rogue super soldiers, terrorists, failed lab experiments, that whole song and dance." he joked not in the mood to deal with the seriousness of their lives at this early hour.

"Yeah, I hear ya. I have been sifting through what feels like a trillion sites for anything that might get us to tomorrows threat a little faster, but I got nothing."

The silence began to stretch again but it had never been uncomfortable. Skye was considering calling it a night, finally feeling tired and Ward was in the mood for a workout, but neither could work up the desire to move away.

"Did you know that the fear of vegetables is called Lachanophobia?" Skye finally ventured. Her mind was just drifting as she went through everything she could remember about what she had read over the night.

"Why did the tomato blush?" Ward returned after a moment's thought.

"I don't know..." Skye replied, eyeing him quizzically.

"Because he saw the salad dressing," he joked, causing Skye to choke she was laughing so hard. Ward moved to pat her back, "Come on it wasn't that funny."

"No, I just can't believe that a joke that ridiculous came out of your mind," she explained, heart still racing though now it might be chalked up to the firm hand which had started to rub her back. "Where in the world did you come up with that one?"

Before he could answer Skye's head had lulled against his arm. "My nephew told me it."

Her eyes jumped to his, clearly surprised by this bit of new information. "You have a nephew?"

"Yeah, my little brother Tommy's son. He's six and is at that age where he learns one joke and expects everyone to think it is the funniest thing in the world, but that one did make me laugh the first time." Ward smiled at the memory.

It was moments like these that she was happy she had taken the assignment with SHIELD. It was easy for her to hate corporations, and corrupt governments, but it was moments like this that she remembered that everyone had a story. Everyone had a reason they felt that what they were doing was right.

Skye yawned and started to settle her head back on his arm, but Ward started to stand.

"I think it is time you get some rest sleepyhead."

She would have protested, but she truly about to fall asleep where she sat. So instead, she allowed him to pull her to her feet and wrap an arm around her shoulder before walking her to her door.

But when they got to the door, they were once again reluctant to part ways.

"Did you know that people who only get six hours of sleep a night tend to live longer than those that get eight?" Skye mumbled.

"I still think you need to go to bed," Ward insisted, pressing a kiss to her temple before letting his arm drop.

But instead of going into her room, she turned a little surprise showing in her big eyes, before she leaned up and kissed him.

When they finally pulled away, both were feeling a little dazed.

"I better get to bed," she finally decided.

"Yeah, get some rest," he agreed.

"I will be up around noon and you will owe me a coffee," she smiled.

"You got it!" he grinned, heading off for the gym.


End file.
